Hamas says peace possible at Moscow talks

Russia's controversial talks with the new Palestinian Hamas leadership opened yesterday with the radical Islamic group saying peace was possible with Israel if it returned to its pre-1967 borders and allowed Palestinian refugees to return home.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said he had pressed on the group's political leader, Khaled Meshaal, that Hamas must accept Israel's right to exist. He also told the state RIA Novosti news agency that Hamas leaders had said they would be willing to meet their obligations under the UN road map for peace if Israel met theirs. Hamas was also ready to allow international monitoring of its government's budget, Mr Lavrov said.

"They are ready to create a mechanism of international oversight," he was quoted as saying.

Mr Meshaal said that if Israel withdrew from the lands it occupied in the 1967 war and allowed the "right of return", then "our movement will have taken a big step toward peace".

The comments came after two hours of talks in Moscow, the Islamic group's first major foreign meeting since its victory in January's parliamentary elections.

Israel has criticised President Vladimir Putin's invitation to Hamas, trying to highlight similarities between Hamas and Russia's Islamic foe of militant Chechen separatism. The invitation has been seen as the Kremlin's bid to revive Russia's influence in the Middle East, where in the past the Soviet Union was a counterweight to the west.

The talks appeared to have been warmer than expected, the flurry of statements from both parties markedly more positive than their frostier comments earlier in the day.

Yesterday morning, Hamas leaders had repeated their refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist and Mr Lavrov had warned the group that if they did not change they risked being isolated.

The brief meeting was the first element of a three-day visit. Mr Meshaal said the talks were "good, constructive and open".